First, chip & pin is how Europe does not, not the "rest of the world". In my travel around Asia I haven't seen chip & pin cards or machines anywhere (anecdotal evidence it may be, but it definitely isn't universal). I got a (rare) US chip & pin card just in case for my travels a few years ago, and so far had not a single chance to use it - not even on a recent trip to Germany. In places that could "go either way" that card still fell back to signature mode (though, perhaps, that's more of an issue of how VISA presents it).

Secondly, chip & pin has one interesting issue in US market - tipping at restaurants and such places. The (imho vile) practice of inflating one's bill by 20-25% post-consumption is not particularly common in the chip & pin world. Since chip & pin transaction has to be fully concluded at pin entrance, we would have to tip at restaurants through hand-held machines brought to our table, while waiter is standing there looking on anxiously. I am guessing tip rates can then go to 50%?

All my phones from last 10 years are still around and being used, if I can help it.
Smartphones:
iPhone 4 is still very much alive and kicking, used essentially as an iPod/music device/game device/development/whatever. I also take it when I travel to use with foreign SIM cards, to avoid risking newer iPhone 5.
iPhone 3 was also alive until last summer, but unfortunately got stolen during a trip abroad. Sure hope someone is enjoying it. Curiously, thieves in Bangkok were considerate enough to take the phone but leave the wallet that was right next to it in my bag.

Dumb phones:
I had a few "prepaid" Virgin Mobile phones laying around, reactivated and used sporadically for visitors from abroad or as needed. Unfortunately, they had to be discarded ever since Virgin Mobile stopped selling short term prepaid plans (and they cannot be activated directly on Sprint network due to their policy). Too bad, they all worked just fine.
An old Sprint phone has been recently revived and reactivated through one of the non-contract Sprint resellers - give it to kids as a "safety' device.
An old quad-band GSM phone from ATT is a spare, taken abroad to use with local SIM cards sometimes (but lately iPhone does that better).

The only phone I parted with voluntarily in the last 10 years was a Samsung Galaxy (forget which revision). I tried hard to like Android (hoping to develop applications for it, wanted to get some system experience), could not like it though and sold it on eBay.

So that a smug overpaid CEO of a sinking remnant of a company could not complain about employees receiving "too much money" for the healthcare for their family. Incidentally, this douche's compensation is north of 25 million dollars. That would pay for a dozen families health needs.

I am a "white guy with a job" too, about as law-abiding as anyone can get without becoming a monk - yet I absolutely do not trust police. My (albeit limited) personal experience with police, as well as what I see happening in general, suggests that by a large margin they are no less dishonest, selfish and brutal than general population. However, where general population is held in check by external factors, police have additional "special rights", whether by actual law or by precedent, that make them that much more dangerous.

May be up there in Canada things are different, but this was my experience in every location in US I lived in.

That said, I think cameras of any kind on police would be a good thing in most cases, though I suspect they will quickly learn to cope by having batteries run out just in time, or suspects need to be strip-searched every time, which *obviously* would require camera to be turned off for privacy reasons (and, don't you know it, naked suspect is probably more cooperative anyway).

In the words of Homer Simpson - "Just because I don't care doesn't mean that I don't understand".

I think the recent slashdot poll was directly tied to the redesign. Slashdot audience is getting older, the crowd is now mid-to later in their careers. I can see that - I've been a consistent reader since 1997.

So, Dice decides it is time to rejuvenate the website. I suspect that the objective is to pare down the number of crusty old coots, who block ads and otherwise freeload, and get the "hip, young" crowd that now hangs on Reddit and what not. It sounds like someone with experience in marketing had a hand in this.

The problem as I see it is that Slashdot is more of a Saab of web/news industry. You have a specific image, and a dedicated customer base. Historically, attempts at rebranding and reinventing oneself, in particular for a company with that kind of background, are generally not successful. This is particularly so when a rebranding is done in such an obvious, hamfisted way.

Dice was never a particularly web-savvy company. I've been using them as long as I've been a slashdot reader. Dice (no offense) is a poorly designed concentrator for all the spammy recruiters out there. It's a bit of a cesspool, but it serves its purpose. However, given their history and performance - it is highly unlikely they have sufficient web/social/marketing expertise to turn this site around.

Slashdot hasn't been as exciting as in the past for a while now. What it needed is fresh ideas, better ways to get involved in duscussion, *more* interactivity and possibly ability to connect among its users (I don't suggest it become a facebook, but it's has a long way to go in improving social side). Slashdot will not, in my view, benefit from gaudy pictures, "web 3.0" design and general dumbing down. You will not get the "hip crowd" and you will lose your current user base. Look at Saab for guidance.

Does the article really need to begin with ridiculous generalization?
"We all talk about the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf as if electric cars are brand-new. In fact, electric cars were around long before you were alive, or your father, or maybe even your grandfather. It turns out...."
Yes, yes - the readers on slashdot are morons, who have absolutely no idea about most basic technology. "We all" are so dumb, we think the wheel was invented yesterday. Hurr-durr...

I suspect that someone misplaced a comma :) Perhaps these values are $18.50 and $13.50 (of course then it'd have to be a decimal dot, but the developers that wrote this are probably outsourced :) ). It's difficult to understand how NS would expect this to fly under the radar (or fly at all) given the cost of similar services at other registrars. I mean, they are overpriced - but this is nuts.

Yawn. Spectator sports where consumer is watching someone else play are a waste of time. They also should not be called "sports".
Want sports - get off your ass and run, or at least walk.

There is no such thing as "patent owner". You could be "patent holder" - in that you hold it at the pleasure of the public which allows you to do so for the public good. Nice term substitution there.

While they are at it, could they please make condoms biodegradable. After plastic bags, condoms are probably one of the worst culprits in terms of emitting plastic into the ocean and nature (unlike plastic bags, condoms are often flushed down the toilet).

Loss compared to "ideal" use of bitcoin. In this case, bitcoin provides no better privacy than using a major credit card. Aside from privacy - what other objective advantages are to bitcoin compared to other payment methods?

They don't actually accept bitcoins (or quote prices in bitcoins). What they do is offer a 3rd party check-out option. At the time of check out, the amount of USD will be converted to bitcoins according to the rate quoted by 3rd party (coinbase) and buyer would have to send the quoted amount. According to FAQ, quotes are valid for 10 minutes.

This mode of payment conveniently comes with a number of restrictions, in particular any orders paid for in this manner are not refundable in either USD or bitcoin, all buyer can get back is store credit.

More importantly, I don't see what is there to gain for bitcoin users. Privacy afforded by bitcoin is lost here since buyer identity is known to at least two parties - Overstock and Coinbase.

Whoa, that's news to me. I was under impression that we had virtually no treatment, other than symptomatic support, for viral illnesses such as influenza, common cold, mononucleosis and many others. We do have immunizations that provide a small measure of protection against acquiring some of these, and public health measures (like hand washing and wearing masks in Asian countries) that slow down their spread. But once a person gets one of those viruses - all modern medicine can do is say "there-there". I just spent 3 weeks fighting off a most miserable flu (it still isn't quite gone) and all doctors could do is recommend "bed rest". I think we are overstating our disease fighting abilities here, never mind cancer.